Another newbie badly in need of help

[AlanP]

Hi to the great CNC community.

Firstly, please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong forum. I have a few questions and do not know if I should post in individual forums.

I'm from South Africa and have been interested in computer controlled devices for quite a few years now. Unfortunately, parts , especially the electrical side is not readily available here, and what we can get is expensive.

I am planning to start my first build soon. I'ts a wood router from a book by Patrick Hood-Daniel. Would this be a reasonable build for a beginner on limited budget? I know it could do with a few improvements but that can be done later. I already have the CNC kit which I imported from China.

I already have EMC2 installed on a dedicated computer for that.

I have purchased Cambam and have the evaluation copy of Cutviewer Mill. I've spent the greater part of the last two weeks playing around, trying to learn the program, and that is where my real question comes in.

If I have a drawing (2D) that I want to cut out, the cut is not made through the material. I define my stock size and thickness in the machining properties, but when I run Cutviewer Mill it says something about no stock defined and brings up a dialog box where I can define the stock size. In this box the X and Y sizes are correct as but the thickness is greater than I defined. The Z origin is also showed the same as stock thickness.

I have read through the manual several times and tried playing with settings but to no avail.

I also noticed that on the backplot that it cuts air before cutting the stock. How does the machine determine how far it is from the stock. I'm not sure what I an doing wrong or if there is just something I misunderstand.

I'd appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks

[ger21]

I don't use CamBam or Cutviewer, but I believe that CamBam need to add a line to the g-code file so that cutviewer knows the stock size. I think it should look something like this, that I copied from some code generated with MeshCAM.

(STOCK/BLOCK, 6.000, 12.000, 0.750, -0.000, -0.000, 0.750)

Asking on the CamBam forum would probably be your best bet.

[AlanP]

Thanks Gerry,

I do not see a line similar to that in my G-code. I will try to add one manually, but will also try the Canbam forum.

Alan.

[endo47]

Alan,
I'm really unsure on this, but when you select the "post processor" under the "machining tab" did you select the Mach3-CV option? The CV stands for Cut Viewer and I thought it might add the correct entries for stock size? Just a thought, I don't use CV so I hope I'm not leading you on a wild goose chase/
Ron E.

[endo47]

I'm sorry, I need to go to bed, I just noticed you're using EMC2 so ignore my last post.
Ron E.

[ShenValleyCNC]

Welcome to this great hobby. I am a source of amazement to all my friends with the fantastic items I produce.

For the novice, the book machine is a good place to start. Many of us are experienced woodworkers or engineers and just have to take it to the next level right away. But as Patrick will tell you, build the first machine, then use it to cut really great parts for your second machine if you are not a good woodworker.

When I build my machine, other than the electronics, anything I could not get at the hardware store I purchased off of ebay. It takes a bit of work, but you can find everything.

In CamBam, in the drawing tab there are two trees, layers and machining. Click once on Machining. The first selection on the displayed properties below is Stock. Click on the plus sign and enter your measurements.

[Dragonfly]

Don't know how things are with EMC2 but for Mach3 there is a separate post processor (Mach3 CV) for cut viewer to work correctly. I don't have CV and rely only on what CB itself displays.